Abstract
Power line communication (PLC), which is often used in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), may be disturbed by adjacent high-power converters. Due to the inherent features of this type of communication, classic methods of improving communication reliability (filtration and circuit separation) cannot be fully applied. Information coding (modulation) methods are used in PLC to increase the data transfer rate and improve noise immunity. Random modulations (RanM) are used in converters to lower emission levels. Therefore, we investigate how the converters’ modulation parameters and coding methods may affect PLC communication reliability in the paper. To this end, we employ an experimental approach. In particular, the analysis of the influence of deterministic modulation (DetM) and (RanM) on the performance of narrowband G3-PLC is shown. We emulated an actual situation where EMI generated by the DC/DC converter disturbed the PLC transmission. The experimental results show the transmission error rates for different operating scenarios. The natural (experimental) system results, due to the complexity of the disturbing signals, differ from the literature data obtained by simulation for normalized signals.
Highlights
Power line communication (PLC) may be used in the smart grid, e.g., in metering systems [1] and industrial systems [2]
The main reason is the fact that power electronics utilize a switching frequency that may overlap with the PLC working frequency range [6,7]
The results presented in the paper focused on the impact of the DC/DC step-down converter, treated as a source of electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise, on the narrowband G3-PLC
Summary
Power line communication (PLC) may be used in the smart grid, e.g., in metering systems [1] and industrial systems [2]. The source of the problem is the high-level of electromagnetic interference (EMI) These EMI in the power grid are generated by energy receivers (electric drives, lighting, household appliances, and computers) [3] and renewable energy sources [4,5]. In both cases (energy consumption or generation), the sources of EMI are power electronics circuits. Since the communication signals and disturbances generated by power electronic converters occur in the same frequency band, bandpass filters installed in communication devices cannot provide specific protection. If the amplitude of a disturbance approaches a high enough level, communication errors occur [8]. The shape and nature of the interference signals that do not affect SNR directly are crucial for their impact on communication error rates
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